Tailgating Kills Mother and Daughter

07-11-2018, 11:20 PM

On today's news it was mentioned that a mother and daughter were killed when an 800 pound boulder fell off a truck, bounced once and went all the way through the car, tearing off the roof. For this to happen, you know they had to be following too close, and that is the norm these days. Do they even teach the 3 second rule in driver's ed anymore? No matter what speed you are driving, look at a spot in the road that the car in front just passed, and your car shouldn't go over that same spot for at least 3 seconds.

I know it's the truck driver's fault for not securing his load, but tailgating also is the cause of many accidents. BTW, they found the truck, but not the driver yet.

Just within the past few months I read about a Model A accident that could have been prevented if the driver wasn't tailgating.

Defensive driving is almost non excistent on the highways today.
I took a defensive driving course years ago, picked up many great driving tips that I still use today.
The 3 second rule is one of them. Jeff

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I try to stay well clear of any truck, as they drop stones or kick up stones on the road and chip windshields. About 8 years ago I was driving through Chicago on the freeway and a Greyhound bus was in the lane to the right of me. The bus ran over a large broken leaf spring from a truck, and it flipped up hitting the side of the bus very hard, then went flying back just missing the windshield of the pickup following the bus.

This is the truck and the boulder strapped down weighs in the neighborhood of 3-4 tons I would say. The smaller ones in the back are what fell off. I don't follow behind stuff like that, not because I'm smart, but because I'm afraid. How big does a rock have to be to be considered a boulder ? Heading to google now !!

I think we've all moved away from dangers while driving.
How often have you switched lanes, or slowed down, because of what you've seen with other people's driving habits, unsecured loads, low tire pressures, swaying trailers, ect....
I know I have, too many times to count.

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Jeff, I listen to a local St Louis radio station every morning and it never fails, every morning during the traffic reports and even during the day, reports of road debris in this lane or that lane on this interstate or that interstate, this lane is closed because of debris, etc. Irresponsibility abounds today!!! Most people just don't care what damage or interruption is causes other people, they could care less....IMO!!

on my way back from iola today, state trooper pulled a car over - middle aged older couple. They pulled over on the left shoulder (in median). Trooper probably told them to get on the right shoulder where people expect things to be. Well they pull out almost 45* angle and just slowly idle across both interstate lanes right in front of the SUV in front of me going 65mph. I thought i was going to see a massive collision in front of me so i hit my brakes hard - suv hit his brakes hard enough to leave black marks on the road (even with ABS) and he swerved to avoid them. Had to have come within 3 feet of slamming into them. Of course they were totally oblivious to what they almost did.

Never saw a madder state trooper in my rearview swerve in behind them and slam his door shut darn near sprinting and pointing at them.

More to the story!
I wish reporters would tell the truth and the whole story. The first report, an hour after the accident, sounded like the car was following the truck. Yesterday's report makes it sound like they were going opposite directions and met each other just as the truck was driving over railroad tracks, and that's when the boulder bounced out and went through the windshield. Now it makes more sense, and there was nothing the woman driver could have done to avoid the accident. The truck driver alone is responsible for the two deaths.

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Yea thats just an unfortunate case of wrong place wrong time. Things that scare me the most are the scrapper trucks. Way overloaded about 5 bungie cords holding 3 houses worth of appliances and a cars worth of scrap, truck looks like its got 1 wheel braking and 1 wheel steering with 4 bald tires.

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That's the trouble with a lot of reporters, they love to make up news to start trouble so they have something to report.
They love to slant the way things are presented, both by how and what pictures they post, and by what they write.

And don't forget the editors! They are the "supervisors" of the content and the final quality assurance step before it goes to print. They get paid to assure standards are met. But, if standards are low or vapor quality, well ....

In 1933 an Australian farmer’s wife wrote a letter to Ford asking them for a vehicle “to go to church in on a Sunday” that could also “carry our pigs to market on Mondays.” Ford listened and responded accordingly. A year later they released the “coupe utility vehicle” that we all know today as the Ute. It has been just over 80 years since that date and this forerunner of the F-series American pickup is still going today....